


If I Could Burn This Town

by Sushispider1212



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dead animals, Dragon AU, Gen, Not all are technically dragons, Tags will be added as the fic gets written, tell me if i need to add more tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26546191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sushispider1212/pseuds/Sushispider1212
Summary: Gordon Freeman was transferred to a new project in Black Mesa. This wouldn’t be weird normally, other than the fact that Gordon’s in no way qualified for the project.Oh, and they’re also studying dragons.
Comments: 48
Kudos: 56





	1. Good Morning

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I’ve had in the works for a while, so I hope you all enjoy it! This is one of the first things I’ve written where I have the plot outline already completely written out before hand, so that’s pretty cool.
> 
> I’ve had the designs for a while before I wrote this story, so let me know if I need more descriptors.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon gets a new job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a dead rabbit in it, that’s used as a feeder animal. If you get uncomfortable with that, please skip this fic.

Gordon huffed as he looked down at the paperwork he had just been handed. He scanned his eyes across it once, twice, and finally three times, the words still not sinking in. 

“What?” He whispered in disbelief.

Darnold looked at him intently, as if what he just read wasn’t the most nonsensical thing in the world. Gordon let out a little, high-pitched huff of laughter. “Dragons. That’s not crazy at all.”

Gordon would have looked around to try to catch someone laughing with him, but the hallway was suspiciously empty. In fact, there were only two doors in this dead-end hallway.

Darnold and Gordon were standing in front of one of those doors now, the one on the right of the hall, to be exact. Darnold turned away from Gordon and punched in the combination on the door’s keypad, the door unlocking with a click.

“Now, Mr. Freeman, this place might seem a little messy, but that’s just how I work. I’m sure we’ll get along fine, especially once you see the specimens.” Darnold pushed open the heavy-looking door, and flicked on the lights, illuminating the room with their fluorescent white glow.

Gordon followed after him, still clutching the papers in his right hand, and took in the room. It was a huge room, roughly the size of the locker room back at his old department, with several interesting features of note about it.

For one thing, it was messy, with random piles of paper and notebooks scattered about it. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a computer monitor perched on it, wires trailing across the room until being plugged into an outlet on the wall behind opposite the door.

The most interesting part of the rooms was the doors branching off of them. There were three doors on the left wall, each evenly spaced out with a fairly large window between them. There was another door on the right side of the room, but it was in the middle of the wall, with the window spanning the entirety of the wall around it. Another door was behind the desk, but there wasn’t a window there at all.

Gordon walked up to the first window on the left, examining the dark room behind it. He couldn’t see much through it besides his own reflection.

“Oh, sorry about that, Mr. Freeman!” Darnold’s voice came from the desk as he rummaged through the drawers, “The lights in the containment rooms work on a separate system than the main room’s. Just flick the switch next to the door and you should be fine.”

Gordon nodded, and pressed the switch, flooding the darkened room with bright light. The room was much clearer now, and it was small. It had painted white walls, artfully designed to resemble clouds and sky, and the floor was white tile, but in places it was covered in wavy concrete, resembling natural rock.

The centerpiece of the room was an artificial rock pile, reaching up to the ceiling, with a ton of openings riddling the pile. It was a mottled mix of grey and brown, but there were a few odd splotches of dark red and blue on a couple places of the rock.  
Gordon stared at the splotches, wondering how they could have gotten there, when he spotted a pair of yellow eyes gazing back at him from one of the slits in the rock. He reeled back and quickly moved on to the next room.

This time when Gordon flicked the switch, the light was slightly dimmer than the light in the main room. The walls in this side room were covered in mottled green and brown paint, and the ceiling was painted in this way too. 

The floor was covered in a thick layer of what looked like gardening soil, with a bunch of fake ferns and various other shrubbery sticking out of it. The centerpiece of the room was a pile of fake wood, made in much of the same fashion as the rock pile in the prior room. This one, however, was larger, reaching up to the ceiling, and had much more space in it for a large creature to lurk inside.

“Oh, Mr. Freeman!” Gordon turned to spot Darnold dragging a plastic cooler across the floor. “I need to feed the hydra, if you want to watch.”

Gordon stepped aside as Darnold placed the cooler next to the door, carefully clicking the lid open halfway. Darnold then grabbed some kind of metal pole from his desk, the kind with a claw for grabbing things at the end. 

“Gordon, as your first official task, can you please open the hatch in the door.” Darnold motioned to one of the grooves in the door, which upon further inspection appeared to be a swinging hatch, not unlike a pet door, except in the middle of the door. 

Gordon held it open with his hand, as Darnold reached into the cooler with the grabber claw, fidgeting with it for a while, keeping up the conversation the whole time. “You know, I normally would go for whatever they eat in the wild, but we can’t legally do live feedings, you know? Besides, I think my morality would get the better of me in that situation.”

Finally, Darnold retrieved the thing he was grabbing, a dead rabbit, water pouring from its damp fur. Darnold shook it a little bit, trying to dry it the best he can, before moving it over to the hatch in the door. He carefully maneuvered it in between the hatch and the door, placing it gently on the ground inside the enclosure, far enough from the door to observe it.

Darnold closed up the cooler and started dragging it away, as Gordon kept watching the enclosure. He could see some movement in the wooden structure, occasional flashes of scales and reflective green eyes, but it seemed like a while until something actually emerged.

The first thing that was out of the pile was a head. It looked like a mix between a lizard and crocodile head, almost looking like a stereotypical dragon head, but a bit longer and snappier. It had dark green scales, and even deeper green eyes, which were now glancing around the enclosure expectantly, spotting the rabbit, but on a second sweep noticed Gordon.

This caused a second head to exit the den, this one with a considerably longer and more muscly looking neck, however it’s maw was considerably smaller than its companion. It chirped something to the other head, and was nudged in Gordon’s general direction. It blinked once at him, before retreating back into the darkness.

After a little bit, the second head returned, along with a third head. This head actually looked like it was the main head, with a nice crown of spikes around the base of the head and it was definitely larger than the other heads. This main head looked around the room, and saw Gordon outside the window. It nodded, and smiled? Was that a thing it could do?

The hydra finally crawled out of the den its entirety, the three heads keeping their eyes trained on Gordon as the rest of its scaly body entered the light. It was very low to the ground, powerful muscles bunching under the body as it walked along. It had a huge tail following along behind it, dark green scales gleaming in the artificial light.

The hydra stared at Gordon intently, and Gordon stepped back, unnerved. The main head made a little chirping sound, almost like it was asking Gordon a question. The scientist quickly speed walked away, not comfortable with the potentially dangerous animal staring at him like that.

The next room, once the switch was flicked, had similar dimmed light, this time illuminating a room full of fake trees and handholds. There was a layer of soil on the floor of this one as well, but no plants. Instead there were various dog toys scattered about, the kind you would find in a pet store.

It wasn’t very hard to find the creature in this room, as there weren't any places for it to hide. It appeared to be curled up in the corner of the room, tail wrapping around it. Was it some kind of snake?

Once it started moving a few minutes later, it was confirmed that it was, indeed, a snake, albeit a snake with huge feathery wings. It uncoiled itself from its sleeping pile and stretched it’s beautifully colored wings, multicolored like a mix of all kinds of parrots. It flicked out its wings one at a time, extending each to its fullest potential, before retracting it and doing it again with the other one. 

Finally, the snake noticed Gordon standing at the window. It tilted its head questioningly, slithering up to the glass. As opposed to the hydra, which was slightly shorter than Gordon, the portion of the snake’s body that it lifted up off the ground was slightly taller than him.

Its tail flicked, the colorful feathers complementing the teal-blue of the snake’s scales. The snake stared intently at Gordon before turning away. The snake picked up one of the toys, which was one of the squeaky toys, and was a plush rabbit. That reminded Gordon of the other room, and yep, the hydra and rabbit were already back in the den.

Gordon turned away from the snake’s enclosure, heading across the room to the switch that would illuminate the large room behind the glass panels.

“Aah!” His shriek of surprise echoed across the room, as a menacing face appeared behind the glass once the lights were on. The dragon’s glaring light blue eyes seemed to bore into Gordon as he scrambled backward. 

It’s snout was very long and sharp, with small arcing horns and spikes. However, it didn't appear to have scales, just skin the color of, well, human skin. It wasn’t just one skin tone either, various shades were all over the creature’s body, all in subtle gradients that never appeared jarring against each other. 

Speaking of the creature’s body, it’s no wonder it got the largest room. The creature was by far the longest, even compared to the snake. It’s massive tail filled up a grand portion of the room, with the rest of its body taking up almost the same amount of room. It had four sets of limbs, two pairs of legs, and two pairs of arms, each evenly spaced out along the body.

The creature was sitting on the floor, with both sets of arms crossing, glaring at Gordon, towering over him. Gordon was paralyzed, staring back at it. That was, until he noticed Darnold standing next to him. 

“This one’s pretty, isn’t he?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Gordon awkwardly replied. “But I like the snake better.” Gordon consciously decided to keep the interesting staring match with the snake secret, unless it was commented upon. 

“Did you see the Dragon yet?”

“But I thought all of these are considered dragons?” 

“They all are technically related to dragons, but the one in the cave over there,” Darnold pointed to the first room on the right, “is the only one who follows what most consider the stereotypical dragon.”

“Huh okay.” Gordon gazed at the rooms on the other side of the room. The dragon still wasn’t out, but the hydra was staring at him again. Maybe Gordon could make the best of this situation. 

Besides, there are worse jobs he could be doing in Black Mesa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think of this! I always appreciate feedback on my works, so I would be grateful.


	2. Decaf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream sequence time

“So, Darnold, what exactly are we doing here?” 

Gordon looked over to Darnold, who was flopped on the couch next to him. Darnold had moved this couch all the way across the room so they could watch the coatl, the actual specimen name of the feathered snake, as it played with some of its toys. 

It was the second day Gordon was on this new assignment, and he still didn’t have a clue as to what was even happening. Besides the mythological beasts part. He’d already made his peace with that crazy piece of this giant goddamn puzzle known as Black Mesa.

Darnold glanced over at Gordon, glanced down at his clipboard, and looked back up at Gordon. “You didn’t read the briefing papers I handed you?”

Gordon vaguely recalls the paper that he was, indeed, handed by Darnold. The one that disappeared somewhere. He’d lost track of it as soon as it had said “dragons”. 

“By your blank expression, I’ll take that as a yes.” Darnold chuckled and went on, “Well, this project is, of course, for developing weapons for the military. Like most things at Black Mesa. This time, we’re supposed to study these beautiful creatures and train them to do something for the military? They weren’t exactly clear on that front.”

Gordon stared at him, then back at the room in front of them, then back at Darnold. Gordon sighed deeply, pressing his head into his hands. Of course Black Mesa would do this. They definitely would take wild animals and make them fight.

“Well, Mr. Freeman, if you’re so tired, try this energy potion!” Gordon looked up to see Darnold holding a plastic soda bottle, with some kind of translucent orange liquid in it. 

“How did you make that?” 

“My old department was the Mixology Department, Mr. Freeman. I do this in my free time. Try it, it should help you get back to work quicker.” Gordon looked confusedly at Darnold, unsure if he was joking, or if he genuinely believed that that was his problem. Gordon took the bottle anyway, uncapped it, and chugged the potion in one chug.

Gordon immediately started coughing, then the taste set in. It tasted exactly like a slightly-too-old tomato, the acidic taste coating the inside of his mouth.

“Oh dude,” Gordon looked at Darnold, who was scribbling something on his papers.   
“That taste couldn’t have possibly been intentional.”

“It wasn’t. It’ll taste better next time, don’t worry.”

“It better.” Gordon stood up to go find something to get the taste out of his mouth with. 

—————

The dreams started that night. 

It was a normal night, all things considered, with Gordon helping watch the dragons and help feed them, and things like that. Gordon reflected on this as he slipped into sleep.

Unlike normal dreams, he appeared in a sort of void. It was just pitch black all the way through. Gordon stood there for who knows how long, until he saw something moving at the very edge of his line of sight. 

And Gordon ran towards it before he thought about it. Like maybe the giant moving figure could be dangerous? Just maybe don’t run in its general direction?

Oh well, he was already close enough to see some of it. Really all he could make out was a glint of scales, before it was suddenly gone. 

Just poof, disappeared before his very eyes. 

Gordon narrowed his eyes as he approached, trying to figure out where in the name of hell a giant scaly beast could have gone. After some time, he turned his head to see a figure walking towards him from his left. 

The figure kept walking, even as Gordon stopped and stared at their approach. As they kept walking, Gordon was able to pick out specific details of the figure. For one thing, the figure appeared to be a businessman, complete with suit and briefcase.  
The man finally stopped in front of Gordon, only about six feet away from him now, and stared at Gordon. Gordon noticed the man’s grip on his briefcase tighten momentarily, before relaxing. 

This movement made Gordon notice an extremely out of place accessory on this suited man; a bracelet that seemed to be woven out of dandelions. As soon as the man noticed Gordon’s eyes on the bracelet, he slid up his arm, so it disappeared under the sleeve of his suit.

“Now, Mr. Freeman, I must ask you something of great importance. How exactly did you, get here?” The suited man’s voice was very odd. If the words were tangible objects, Gordon was sure they would look like a pile of books tilting against gravity, but somehow staying in one stack.

This image occupied all of Gordon’s thoughts, before the actual words did. Gordon didn’t actually have an answer to that question. He stared at the suited man for a solid minute before the man let out a small huffing noise.

“I see my, let’s say, progeny hasn’t told you anything yet. He has talked a, great deal about you, Doctor Freeman. He really likes you, you know.”

Gordon stared at him confused again. Who the heck was he talking about? For job reasons, and how deep in the facility the dragons were, he hasn’t left Black Mesa in a long time, and lives in the dorms. Unless whoever this mysterious suited figure was was related to a scientist, he highly doubted that this guy was speaking the truth.

The suited man looked back at Gordon, and they stood there, awkwardly, just staring at each other. Luckily, the silence was interrupted. However, it happened to be interrupted by a startlingly loud bird call, which was followed by the suited man making a similar call, albeit a little raspier. It almost seemed like a natural response with the ease and swiftness of the response.

“I believe that’s the end of our time here, Doctor Freeman. Remember this, however.” The suited man leaned down closer, getting uncomfortably close to Gordon’s face.   
“Do not, for whatever reason, do anything to, my son.”

With that the man turned and walked away. He kept walking into the abyss, until he was only a small figure in the distance. Gordon could barely see, but he could have sworn he saw the suited man turn around to look back at Gordon, and he could see a small flicker of yellow that could have been the bracelet of dandelions, before the man disappeared altogether.

Then Gordon woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you prefer longer chapters like the first one, or shorter chapters like this. I’m working on pacing out the plot, so feedback like that will really help!


	3. Deadlock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, papers are fun.

Darnold was, to put it simply, stressed. He only had about three weeks for his latest project to be completed, but the amount of variables that could cause it to all go wrong (of which there were too many to count), and the added bonus of starting it later than planned, made it one giant potion of doomed life. (That was only half-true, potions of doomed life required some kind of lily in them to work properly.)

He couldn’t even focus now, just staring at the papers on his desk. He didn’t even know how to make it happen any faster? Didn’t the first time they did something like this tell them anything?

Well, not exactly the same way, but still. Darnold glanced over at the wyrm, as he had dubbed it. It didn’t have any equivalent in mythology that he could find, but calling it a drake underselled it.

It was unfortunate, to say the least, that it was made from scraps of DNA they found in the glaciers, and not the actual creature. It certainly wasn’t like any of the other ones they had found, so that added some mystery to the origins.

Darnold forced himself to look back down at his papers, focusing on his work instead of the specimen. He needed more samples. That’s what he required.

From the lab-grown specimen sitting in that tank over there. The one he could barely keep under control last time he had tried to grab samples. Sounds promising.

However, as Darnold looked at his notes again, his eyes noticed a different piece of paper under the others. Upon pulling it out, it appeared to be one of Gordon’s observation papers, written in his neat, but slightly crooked, handwriting. Gordon must have put it there sometime yesterday, and he hadn’t noticed.

Darnold opened one of his desk drawers to put the paper with the rest, but a sentence caught his eye, making him pause to read it. 

“Huh,” he said aloud, “that makes things easier.”

——-

When Gordon finally got to the lab room that day, he was about an hour later than usual. Not that Darnold would likely get on his case about that, but still.

He had woken up in a cold sweat that morning, and hadn’t even had time to eat breakfast before he had to go out to the lab. So it wasn’t a surprise to Gordon when Darnold offered the energy potion to Gordon once again, almost as soon as he walked through the door.

“Long night, Mr. Freeman?” Darnold asked as Gordon slowly drank the potion, knowing better than last time. It didn’t taste half-bad this time, but it still had that bitter aftertaste.

“Not really, but I had a crazy dream. It was seriously strange.” Gordon’s line of sight passed over the coatl’s room again, but was quickly refocused on Darnold as he grabbed something from the back room.

Gordon finished drinking the potion, immediately feeling better, and went to follow Darnold, but Darnold exited the room almost immediately, carrying what looked like a dog collar, but made of metal. A giant metal collar, with a chain attached. Three guesses as to what those were for.

In fact, Darnold was carrying two collars, one in each hand. Why two?  
Darnold handed one of the heavy things to Gordon. He motioned toward the door to the hydra’s room with one hand, and then headed to the opposite room to presumably get the wyrm.

Gordon looked at the metal door, glancing through the glass to try to spot the hydra. It must have been sleeping in the wood pile, as he couldn’t see any trace of it. He placed one hand on the handle and undid the lock, allowing the handle to move.

The instant the door clicked open, a wave of humidity washed over Gordon. He nearly coughed, but kept walking into the room anyways. His eyes darted around the space nervously, until he heard a familiar chirping noise.

It, of course, came from the snake-like head as it poked out of the den. It looked confused for a moment, tilting its head. Then it slipped back into the den. There was a shifting noise, and then the main head emerged with the other heads in tow.

It made a little clicking noise, and presented its neck to Gordon. Gordon took that opportunity to click the collar around its neck, and then started leading it out of the room.

Gordon poked his head out of the room, and noticed that Darnold had opened the door to the hallway up, presumably the door across the hall was open as well so he could bring the hydra over there.

Gordon stepped out of the room, letting the hydra trail behind him. It was surprisingly fast.

Darnold was on the other side of the room, watching Gordon go by with the hydra. Gordon wondered why they needed both the hydra and the wyrm out at the same time for testing or something? Did this have something to do with his observation of them staring at each other from across the room?

Finally they made it to the hallway and crossed to the other side. The opposite room was just as big as the other one, but without the side rooms. Instead, it had a ton of different work stations, more befitting a laboratory setting.

One section of the room was converted to a potion-making setup, which was probably where Darnold found the time to make his potions. The other side of the room had a sort of platform on it, with hooks embedded in the wall. Close to that setup was the strangest one, as it appeared to be a giant test tube of some sort? It didn’t have anything in it, just the glass.

“Just put the chain around the hooks on the wall, Mr. Freeman.” Darnold’s voice made Gordon jump, but he did as he was told, securing the chain tightly to make sure the hydra couldn’t go anywhere.

The hydra stared pensively at Gordon as he went back to go help Darnold with the wyrm. And good thing he did, because the wyrm was scrunched up against the glass next to the door, its tail flicking irritably.

Its teeth were bared at Darnold, the top pair of its arms pressed up against the glass. It really looked like it was about to break the glass in an instant and tackle Darnold and/or Gordon to the ground.

Darnold noticed Gordon re-entering the room and handed him the collar. It was very clear what Darnold wanted him to do at this point. Darnold unlocked the metal door and opened it very slowly. To both of their surprise, an angry wyrm didn’t immediately burst through.

Gordon sighed and stepped into the room, shivering at how cold it was in comparison to the room outside. The wyrm was still perched by the glass, but glaring at him with clear malice. After a moment of staring at each other, the wyrm finally sprang, lifting off the ground with all four of its powerful legs.

It landed right on top of Gordon, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground with only one pair of arms. It snarled very loudly and glared at Gordon, the pure hate in its eyes lighting a metaphorical fire in them.

Or maybe a literal fire, as a moment later the wyrm’s skin was flickering with tongues of flame, slowly making their way down its arms, but never quite reaching the hands. Gordon stared up at the wyrm, his terrified eyes finally connecting with the wyrm’s.

The wyrm only growled louder, and Gordon was paralyzed from the noise. It was practically screeching at this point. But the instant the noise stopped, a second, quieter voice called. The distinctive chirping of the hydra.

The fires died a little bit, the wyrm’s grip loosened. 

There was a distinctive snap as a collar fastened itself around the wyrm’s neck, the heavy metal throwing the wyrm’s balance off. This moment allowed Gordon to slip away from the wyrm, leaving the heavy collar behind. He absently noted that Darnold had fastened this new collar around the wyrm’s neck and was handing him the chain.

He took it and kept walking, barely noting the wyrm stumbling along behind him. When they got to the other room, the only reason he noticed was because the wyrm let out a little growl at the hydra, which was returned by a cheerful chirp.

Gordon was distracted the entire time, so he didn’t register what it was that Darnold was doing with the wyrm or the hydra. He just stood there, his mind fogged like he was half-asleep.

He didn’t even register putting the dragons back into their enclosures. But he did register when Darnold left him alone in the room for one reason or another.

His eyes shifted over to the desk. He always did wonder where Darnold had put the papers he had written. 

He walked over to the desk, and he absently noticed the coatl watching him. The bottom cabinet had his papers in them. It was a bit odd looking at them, for sure. They were filed away separately from the other papers, not looking like they had been used in any way.

In fact, they were thrown haphazardly on top of a bunch of trinkets at the bottom of the desk. A bunch of shiny rocks and things like that. In the corner of the compartment was what at first glance looked like a pile of feathers. Gordon pulled it out of the drawer for a closer look.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a bracelet of some sort. It was made of iridescent black feathers, from a crow or something, and was bound together by some sort of vine that was covered in trailing white flowers. 

A loud crashing noise startled Gordon. His head turned toward the coatl’s enclosure, where the coatl stared intently at Gordon, before ramming its shoulder into the glass again.

Gordon slowly closed the desk drawer, and hesitantly came closer to the enclosure, clutching the bracelet. The coatl chirped, looking almost excited. It tilted its head, flicking the feathered tip of its tail toward the door.

Gordon glanced down at the bracelet and held it closer to the door, which was followed by a nod and another chirp from the coatl. There was a familiar growl following the chirp, and Gordon looked over his shoulder to find, yep, the wyrm was glaring at him again.

The growl was followed by a bright chirp, much less of a bird call than the coatl’s, and the hydra was watching him too, as best as it could. The strangest part of this exchange was a soft purr-like growl. 

As it turned out, the elusive dragon had emerged from its den. This was the first time that Gordon had seen it before, and it was very unsettling. It seemed to be staring at him with a mocking grin, it’s light blue and blue-gray scales wreathed in green and tan colored mist.

And all of the dragons’ eyes were collectively on Gordon, to the best of their ability, as Gordon moved his hand closer to the moving panel in the door. He slowly pushed it open, the bracelet just slowly entering the room on the other side, and the distinctive click of the main door opening.

Gordon dropped the bracelet into the small slit in the panel, and lashed his hand back as if it had burned him. He whipped his head around to see Darnold entering the room casually. Almost too casually.

Darnold smiled at Gordon but said nothing. Gordon looked back at the coatl, only to see that it must have taken the strange bracelet and left. Well, that whole exchange raised more questions than answers.

It was almost time for Gordon to leave anyway, so he got up to leave a little bit early. Or he was, until Darnold’s voice interrupted him, making his heart jump into his throat.

“Hey, Mr. Freeman. After what happened today, I figured I might as well make something for you. As a ‘I’m sorry for the near death experience’ gift.” Darnold stood up and handed Gordon a potion in a glass soda bottle. It was blue and smelled strongly like blue raspberry.

“It’s a potion of better sleep! It’ll help you sleep well! I hope this makes up for it!” Darnold looked intently at Gordon, who awkwardly nodded in response. “Cool, just remember to drink it only when you want to sleep, otherwise you’ll fall asleep on the spot.”

Gordon didn’t respond as he exited the room, having a lot to think about tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me if I messed something up. I’m writing this past midnight and I am tried as heck.
> 
> Comments fuel my creative fire, feel free to ramble about anything in the comments.


	4. Stipulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. Things happen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are really going to hate me in the middle of the chapter, trust me.
> 
> TW: Guns, and someone being force fed(?) a potion.

Gordon had another dream again that night.

He was back in the void, and once again he could see the businessman, just standing there ominously. He sighed and began the trek toward him.

However, before he could reach the man, he heard the pattering of footsteps, and turned his head to see a figure in the distance running toward the business man. Gordon stopped to watch.

The man, as he came closer, appeared to be just as tall as the businessman, and probably in his mid-thirties? Gordon couldn’t really see much detail from this far away, but he did see how excited the man looked from how he ran.

He practically crashed into the suited man, before stopping right in front of him. Gordon couldn’t hear their conversation well, but he could tell the man was super excited about something, and the suited man was still calm.

As Gordon came closer he could hear it a little better. He hadn’t even noticed when he had started walking again, but soon he was within hearing range of their conversation.

“But have you seen him today?” The man asked, his voice bright with emotion. He actually sounded a little concerned, for who, Gordon didn’t know.

“I haven’t seen, Dr. Freeman yet, Tommy.” The suited man responded, with all the calmness as he had had the previous night. “He did, help you get your bracelet back, correct?”

Tommy looked confused for a moment. “But I just said that, Dad? Why are you recapping?” Tommy looked around, spotting Gordon immediately. “Oh, it’s you Mister Freeman!”

Gordon had just gotten about five feet away from them. He squinted at Tommy. He definitely was sure that he had never seen Tommy before in his life. Then Tommy turned toward him, and flicked up the sleeve of his lab coat, revealing the bracelet. The peculiar one that was made of crow feathers and flowers.

Gordon stumbled back in shock. How could this human be the coatl? Is this just dream logic that his brain had made up in a daze? But it seemed so real. And wasn’t that a thing that your brain couldn’t make up faces to use in your dreams? And he hadn’t seen any of these people before.

Tommy ran toward Gordon, wrapping him in a hug upon impact. “Thank you Gordon.” Tommy whispered.

It looked like Tommy was going to say more, but Gordon’s senses were overwhelmed with a loud banging noise. 

——-

Gordon woke up abruptly. 

His eyes scanned the room, making a panicked grab at his glasses, trying to figure out where the loud pounding noise could be coming from. Turns out, it was the main door of the small dorm room, as a loud crack sounded out as, he presumes, the door was broken.

Gordon was barely out of bed, luckily he fell asleep in his work clothes, when the door to the bedroom was thrown open and armored guards walked inside, fanning out around Gordon, with guns at the ready.

They didn’t even have to say anything to Gordon, who flinched back, holding his hands out in front of him. One of the guards went up behind Gordon, and nudged him forward with the tip of his gun.

They herded him through his small Black Mesa Standard Dorm Room, the splinters of wood where the door should have been was a pain to get across with bare feet, but he managed not to step on any splinters. 

They made their way to the trams, through several hallways and elevators, until finally making back to the lab. The door was wide open, a cardboard box placed against the door to hold it wide open. Gordon saw a glint of metal inside the slightly open box, and now he knew where they kept the collars.

It was odd, actually. All the boxes and coolers that Darnold kept in the back room were scattered across the room in disorganized piles. The lights to the dragon’s rooms were off, so Gordon couldn’t get a good look inside them, but he sure as hell could hear them.

The wyrm was roaring about something, and it sounded as if it was trying to break the glass again. He could hear the frantic chirping of the coatl, and maybe some thudding noises from the hydra’s room as well? There also wasn’t anything at all from the dragon’s room, not even the gleam of its eyes.

Gordon flinched as one of the guards grabbed his hands and pulled them behind him. He could feel the guard bind his hands with what felt like the chain of one of the collars (those were removable?), and then drop his bound arms. He could hear something as the guard walked past him again.

“wait.”

Wait for what? Gordon turned his head to try to find the guard again, but the guard had already disappeared into the mob of other guards. 

Speaking of which, the guards were starting to relax a little, loosely crowding behind Gordon, and by extension the door, in order to make sure he didn’t run. He still didn’t know what the hell was going on, and the noise from the dragons wasn’t helping.

Gordon’s eyes snapped to the door to the storage room as it opened, Darnold stepping out, his eyes gazing distantly at the floor. He cradled a potion in his arms, his gaze slowly resting on Gordon’s messy hair, and the clothing that he had clearly slept in the night before.

Darnold closed his eyes, before motioning toward the room behind him with one arm. The guard directly behind Gordon nudged him forward, and Gordon slowly walked forward, looking at Darnold with those tired and confused eyes. 

The storage room had been cleared out, leaving just the white-painted walls and the tiled floor, which Gordon was subsequently forced to kneel on, facing the door. The guard kept one foot planted painfully on his legs, probably so he couldn’t make a run for it.

Darnold entered the room after what felt like hours. He clutched the same potion bottle from before, the liquid inside a fizzy orange. Darnold knelt down in front of Gordon, and they stared at each other for a few moments.

Finally, Gordon managed to choke something out. “Why?” 

Darnold looked down at the ground again. He didn’t look up again as he responded. “It’s kinda funny actually. If you had just read the papers you signed at the beginning of this whole ordeal, you would know what’s up.”

Gordon blinked. He didn’t recall signing any papers. “What papers?”

Darnold looked back up for a moment. “Guess the memory potion did the trick.”

“Memory potion!”

“Yeah, it was after you signed the paperwork, they made me give it to you. Perfectly  
legal.” Darnold muttered the last part underneath his breath, as if reassuring himself of that fact. 

Darnold cleared his throat. “Now, Mr. Freeman. This will probably be the last time we talk, so I want to tell you one last thing.”

Gordon was half in a state of shock and half in a fit of anger, and he twitched his arms as Darnold leaned closer to whisper into his ear. “I’m sorry Mr. Freeman. I really am.”

Gordon’s anger momentarily stilled. What? He was sorry?

Gordon almost didn’t catch Darnold stepping out of the room after handing the potion bottle off to the guards. Gordon’s eyes followed the scientist until his vision was blocked by the guards pouring into the room, their hands forcefully holding him down as one of them held up Darnold’s potion bottle.

Gordon nearly choked as they forcefully poured it into his mouth, and he swallowed every vile bit of it. The taste had a sort of acrid burn to it, much like the first time he had drank the potions. 

He distantly wondered if this was what all of those potions had been leading up to, becoming another one of Black Mesa’s experiments, cut off from his own family just because of some stupid contract he didn’t even remember signing. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the door to the room slamming. The guards had all left the room. They had also unbound his arms, he noted as he slowly got up from his position on the floor.

With no other way to pass the time, Gordon took note of his surroundings. The storage room was about the same size as the other dragons’ rooms, albeit without the scenery. The door had a tiny pane of glass as a sort of viewing window, but it was too high up for Gordon to see much of anything through it. Gordon guessed it’s main purpose was checking if the light was on or not in the room. This really was just a storage room.

Gordon leaned against the wall with a sigh, realizing just how tired he actually was. Maybe he could get some more sleep? 

Yeah, sleeps fine. 

His brain, which should have been panicking more than it currently was, decided to pass out. 

And bad thing it did, because it was at that moment when Darnold had started to cry.

——-

The loud sobs rang through the room as Darnold curled up on the couch, bawling his eyes out. Of course, before he had started crying, he had made sure all the security guards had left, otherwise that would be unprofessional.

His tired eyes flicked to the clock on the wall. It was only seven o’clock. He sighed as he stood, having to get back to work. He would check on Gordon at eleven. Only at eleven.

Darnold looked at the enclosure in front of him. It was the coatl’s. That was always Gordon’s favorite. No, is Gordon’s favorite. Stop thinking about him in past tense.

Darnold placed one hand on the door to steady himself, and flicked the light switch. The coatl was staring back at him through the glass. Darnold could see his reflection faintly through the glass, but he mostly noted the coatl’s ruffled feathers and agitated stance.

“Huh, guess you really cared about him? I did too.” Darnold stared back at the coatl, before noticing something moving behind him. It almost looked like a face?

Darnold whipped his head around to find a security guard standing behind him, their face shadowed by their helmet. That was odd, because they wouldn’t have been able to get back in without him noticing.

He was about to say something before he noticed a faint shimmering in the air. It was a sort of mist, going from a cherry red to a deep sea blue. Wait, he had seen that mist-

Darnold was running even before he finished the thought, and he could hear the pounding footsteps behind him. He had to find somewhere to hide, some way to warn everyone that the most dangerous specimen had escaped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to yell at me in the comments. This is where the plot truly begins.


	5. Threshold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, plot threads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know know I feel about this chapter.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

The rapid clicking of the locks being spontaneously unlocked alerted Tommy that Benrey had come back safe. That was good, as there was an extremely high risk of things going insanely wrong.

They had been plotting this escape for weeks, even before Mr. Freeman had been put on the project. The original plan had been a little more complex, but they had revised it once Mr. Freeman gave him his bracelet. Opposable thumbs were great sometimes.

Tommy had been lying down on the grass in his little room, staring into the lights above. He didn’t have much to fidget with on him, unless you counted the various toys scattered around. He didn’t want to play with his lab coat, so he had resorted to playing with his bracelet.

When the door had been unlocked, Tommy stood up and stretched. It had been a good few months since he had been in human form, so he had to get used to just walking around.

Once that was all done, Tommy stepped out of the room. He shivered at the drop of temperature, but immediately perked up when he heard a voice. 

“tommy!” Benrey casually strolled toward Tommy, their smug expression matched perfectly by the shadow cast by the guard helmet they wore. “did ya like what i did with the locks? speedrun 100% completion, uh, number one spot?”

Tommy laughed and gave Benrey a hug. He didn’t let go until he heard Bubby yelling again. “Are you two done? Some of us want to leave.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and opened the door to Bubby’s enclosure. Bubby had been the first one here, Tommy recalled as Bubby stepped outside, his arms crossed in a very angry gesture. 

Bubby dramatically walked over to the nearest couch, which was next to the door, and laid down on it dramatically. Tommy opted against bothering him to move, so he went to release Coomer next.

Coomer was sitting near the door, and walked out calmly. Then he looked directly at Tommy and said, “At this rate we can make it to the surface in two days!”

“That’s great!” Tommy responded gleefully, “But we need to check on Mr. Freeman first.”

“Who cares about him?” Bubby rolled his eyes and draped his front set of arms dramatically across the arms of the couch. “I say we just leave without him.”

“Now, Bubby, it is important that we make sure he’s okay. He did help Tommy find his bracelet, which we should all be thankful for. Having arms is no joke!” Coomer went to sit down next to Bubby, one of his heads resting on the couch next to Bubby.

Tommy shook his head, smiled, and went to go open the door to the room that Gordon was locked in. As he opened it, Tommy noticed that the lights were completely out in the room, so the only light being cast was from the crack in the door. 

Of course, Tommy could have flicked the light switch, but he was more focused on what he saw inside the room to care.

“Oh-oh no, Mr. Freeman.”

——-

Darnold had run far enough. He was ready.

He turned around, his eyes scanning the halls behind him for any sign of pursuit. There weren’t even any security guards in this part of the floor. Of course there weren’t. It was like Black Mesa was trying to get him killed.

But then the thought struck him. What if they were?

They didn’t even give him any weapons or proper containment procedures for the dragons. They seriously wanted him to die? Wouldn’t put it past them.

Darnold carefully peeked around the corner, and dashed into the hallway, ducking into yet another empty room before repeating the action.

If they wanted him to die, then he was going to throw it in their face. He just had to make it back into the lab. Then he could enact his final revenge.

——-

Gordon woke to voices whispering. He could barely hear them, but they shredded the paper thin veil of his fitful sleep.

But before he could fully wake, he could hear a voice, cold and calculating. “Dr. Freeman, it is time. I will set up the distraction, but you, must bring them home.”

Gordon opened his eyes a crack, bright light flooding them and overwhelming his tired brain immediately. He decided to focus on the voices instead.

The first one, he thought he recognized. “I-I don’t know what this is! My dad would have told me if this could happen, I think?”

“Who knows what the hell they did with my cells! I’m a ‘marvel of biological research’ or some shit like that.”

“Now, Professor Bubby, while they did take samples of you and used me as a hostage, we shouldn’t-“ He the third voice cut themselves off. 

Gordon finally opened his eyes, once he was sure he wasn’t going to go blind from the lights. He could see a wall in front of him. That was normal. He glanced around a little, and it appeared that he was on a couch?

This wouldn’t be so confusing, but he had clearly lost consciousness in the back room. Wait.

Gordon sat bolt upright, scanning his surroundings. Good news, he was still in the lab. Bad news, the dragons were loose.

From his vantage point in the room, he could see the hydra and the wyrm had definitely escaped. The wyrm was standing next to the hydra, both of them facing away from him.

It was odd though, because there were two humans standing in front of them. One of them had a security guard’s uniform on, and the other-

The other was the one from his dream, complete with bracelet. 

The one in the security outfit looked up from where they’d been staring at the floor to stare into Gordon’s soul. “looks like feetman’s awake.”

The others stopped. The one who must have been Tommy looked over at Gordon before running over to him. “Are you alright Mr. Freeman? Do you, do you feel okay?”

Gordon looked at him, very confused at first. But then he noticed something from the reflection of the room in the wyrm’s room’s window. 

Where there normally would be a perfect reflection of the room in it, there was something a little off. Like the fact that instead of Gordon’s reflection, there was a dragon.

Gordon twisted his head around to stare at the reflection in the glass of the coatl’s room. Yep, same there.

Gordon stared at one clawed paw. It was a dragon’s alright. The ridged scales were fun to touch, at least. Wait was that a weird thought?

So, now he was a dragon. But without wings? Were wings too much to ask for?

Anyways, time to focus. Preferably not on being a dragon. Preferably.

“Are, are you alright Mr. Freeman?” Tommy tilted his head. Gordon looked back at him and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine Tommy. But can you please explain what’s happening? Please?”

The wyrm glared back at Gordon. “We were hoping you’d tell us.”

Tommy shook his head. “No, I don’t think Mr. Freeman has any idea either, Bubby.”

Gordon let out a snort of laughter. He couldn’t help it, it was sort of a stress response for him. “Bubby? Is that seriously your name?”

Bubby scoffed and turned away from Gordon. “Yeah? And you’re a pathetic excuse for a dragon. At least I can do things!”

“Oh yeah, like what?” Gordon couldn’t help antagonizing the wyrm, as he had nearly been killed by him before, and now he knew he had a better fighting chance this time around.

Bubby twisted around almost immediately, and would have lunged at Gordon, but the hydra playfully tackled the wyrm. The wrestled for a bit, dueling it out, until one of the hydra’s heads smacked into the wall.

The hydra simply shook this injury off and got up, both him and Bubby walking toward Gordon now. “Nothing like friendly fighting to let out pent up aggression, Gordon!”

Gordon stared at the hydra for a while, before deciding to try to walk around. It was, let’s say, difficult to try this on the slippery tile. In fact, he slipped and fell multiple times, Tommy helping him out the entire time.

He noticed that he was actually about the same height as a dragon as he was as a human. He didn’t question how that worked at all, but he did notice that the odd security guard was still staring into his soul.

The guard seemed to notice that Gordon was staring back at them and looked away immediately. “feetman can’t walk cringe comp.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“you heard me.”

“Excuse me, I just had my entire genetic makeup changed, and this is what you joke about? You seriously can’t expect me to get this immediately!”

“why not? i do it.” At that, the guard seemed to dissolve into thin air, colored mist swirling around before reforming into a draconic form, complete with wings. 

Of course this mysterious security guard happened to be the mysterious dragon. Fun. And now the dragon could dissolve into mist? Shapeshift? Neat.

“Alright.” Gordon stepped closer to the door, pulling away from Tommy once he was sure he could continue on his own. “So what’s the plan here? You all clearly planned this great escape, so what’s the next part?”

Tommy looked around the room nervously. “I-I think we should start with introductions, Mr. Freeman! I’m Tommy! I like soda and my dog, Sunkist!”

“You have a pet dog Tommy?” 

“Oh, she’s not really a dog, but she can disguise herself as one!” After Tommy had gone silent, the hydra cleared his throat to speak.

“My name is Doctor Coomer, and I-“ He cut himself off, gazing into the space directly above Gordon’s head. Then he smiled at Gordon and said, “Hello Gordon.”  
Gordon didn’t question it. Bubby went next. 

“I’m Doctor Bubby, and I want to leave Black Mesa.”

“and i’m benry.”

Gordon looked over the little ragtag group and thought for a little bit. “So, what are we waiting for Tommy?” He asked after a little bit of contemplation.

Tommy jumped up a little from where he had taken a seat next to Benrey. “We’re waiting on my dad actually. He said there would be a pretty obvious diversion coming soon, which would then allow Sunkist to find us, and then she would aid in our escape. But with you here, our escape could go much smoother, Mr. Freeman.”

“Alright, so where’s the distraction?”

As soon as Gordon said that, the room was shaken by what felt like an earthquake.

——-

He had finally found the place. He would have to do this fast, so they couldn’t see him coming and prepare. And he was ready.

He slipped his bracelet off and placed it into his briefcase. It wasn’t a real one, it was just a fabrication to make him pulling things out of a pocket dimension a little less off-putting.

Once it was gone, he resumed his true form, towering over the small peaks covering the outside of this heinous place. And he opened his eyes, all of them, and gazed into the depths of the place, scanning for any trace amounts of magic.

He saw two or three different hotspots. A glance toward one showed various little spots all in one place. The second appeared to be spreading a series of threads through the walls of the facility, but there was a primary cluster in the middle of the place. Finally, there was the third cluster, way deeper down in the facility, where there were several larger clusters of magic, and one a little way removed from the others, but still close by.

He glanced toward the little piece of magic circling him before closing the magic-seeking set of eyes. He needed to focus. He could see some of the humans taking notice of him, so he decided to get on with it.

He perched at the top of the rock, raising his heads, and smashed straight into the building below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey look, I have a tumblr account. 
> 
> https://sushispider1212.tumblr.com/
> 
> Yell at me in the comments, or talk to me on tumblr. I mostly reblog things there though, but maybe in the future I could post the designs for the dragons. Who knows?


	6. Fret Street

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exposition and explanations

After what seemed like hours, but was only probably a few minutes, the tremors stopped. However, alarms blared through the facility as a voice blared over the intercom system. “ALL STAFF REPORT TO THE SURFACE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” 

Tommy took this in stride, holding the door to the lab open for the other dragons to pass through. Benrey quickly passed through the open door, heading toward the other rooms, followed by Dr. Coomer and Bubby. Gordon cautiously stepped out of the lab, looking down the hallway at the others who were already wrecking the room at the end.

Tommy closed the door behind him and they headed toward the rest of the team. Benrey perched on top of a desk of some kind, trying to hit a light fixture. Bubby was strategically dismantling a computer terminal, with his lower set of arms holding various bits of machinery. Coomer was staring at a spider web in the corner.

“So, guys. Where do we go from here?” Gordon asked as he stood in the middle of the room. He was aware that Tommy was standing behind him as he spoke, hovering almost nervously as he fidgeted with his sleeve.

Bubby looked back from the computer terminal, his eyes seeming to skewer Gordon with their glare. “Let’s wreck the place.”

After that, they started destroying the place with even more fervor, Benrey clambering up the fluorescent lights like some kind of over-sized cat. They broke moments later, falling with a loud crash and a shower of sparks.

“Gentlemen, I think we should destroy the other lab after this one!” Coomer was glancing around the room, and Bubby nodded after a moment, dropping the parts he was holding and setting them on fire.

Gordon sighed and led the way back down the hallway, before having to pause for Tommy to open the door. Once the door was open, Gordon stepped inside to turn on the lights, the rest of the dragons following him.

The place was disorganized as usual, from the last fuzzy memory Gordon had of it. The platform where Coomer was chained up still stood, the hydra in question giving it one look and then ripping the hooks out of the wall.

There was one thing odd about the room. The potion cabinets were all disorganized, haphazardly thrown open with various containers strewn about. 

“Gordon.” Bubby growled, pointing to the test-tube-type thing that Gordon had noted in his first time here. “Look.”

And Gordon saw it. The tube was filled with some kind of clear ooze, and inside it, presumably asleep, was a tightly curled-up ball of scales.

It appeared to be a more serpentine dragon, much like Tommy, but with leathery wings instead of feathered wings, and less snake-like in general. There were tiny bubbles rising from where its head is presumably in the little ball of scales. So it was alive. But where had it come from?

Bubby looked significantly less in awe. He looked over at Benrey, who was climbing on top of the tube, and made a motion with his head toward the glass. Benrey squinted, and after a moment a wicked grin crossed their face.

Tommy looked up from scrounging through the desks to see Benrey turn into mist and slip inside the tube. They surrounded the sleeping dragon and rapidly turned back into solid form, grabbing the dragon with disembodied talons, filling the rest of the space with tendrils of semi-solid mist, slowly cracking the glass from the inside out.

Cracks spread all around the glass, until finally it shattered all at once, Benrey immediately turning into mist and floating free of the glass, leaving the dragon on the floor. He started to stir, muscles slowly twitching and wet iridescent scales shimmering in the bright lighting.

The dragon’s wings moved first, uncurling from around the dragon, each digit moving individually, almost like a bat’s wing. The dragon had two little spikes on the end of his wings, where the thumb would be if it were a hand.

Once the wings were situated, the dragon slowly uncurled his massive tail, slowly moving it from around his head and unraveling it all behind him. It was probably about as long as Tommy’s coatl form, but definitely less graceful. More like how one would compare a tree boa to a python. Gordon was just spitballing at this point, but he thought that got the point across.

And finally, the head moved, his horns dripping in a layer of the ooze. And his eyes opened, gazing right at Gordon.

His eyes scanned Gordon for a moment, and Gordon got the distinct impression that the dragon was memorizing him. The eyes then flicked over to Tommy, who was standing next to Gordon now. The eyes narrowed a little, but kept memorizing every single detail.

Then the dragon twisted his head a little and saw Bubby. The dragon immediately flinched backward, propping himself up on his wings.

It was this motion that made Gordon see the strangest part of this mysterious dragon, a piece of what looked like solid bone scale plates or something? It was hard to describe, but it was surrounding where the rib cage/chest region would be on the dragon and appeared to be made of a single piece of some kind of keratin? 

The dragon seemed to notice this thing at the same time as Gordon. “Oh, hey. That’s pretty cool.” The dragon exclaimed, and Gordon immediately recognized the voice.

Apparently, so did everyone else, as not thirty seconds later, Darnold was knocked unconscious for the second time that day, this time by Dr. Coomer.

——-

When Darnold came to, he distinctly felt one of those iron collars around his neck. He would bet five dollars that he was tangled up in the chain of it too, because he couldn’t move his wings as well.

At least he got a cool mutation in the deal, even if he had to sacrifice having hands for it. Maybe he could find a workaround to that particular problem.

Darnold opened his eyes to find a very angry wyrm standing above him. They must have moved him somewhere, because he didn’t feel any glass anywhere, or the fluid from the ooze. 

He stretched as best he could, at least he could still move, with only his wings being tangled up. He rotated his head, and saw that he was still in the lab, but on the observation platform, but someone had ripped the hooks out of the wall. Huh.

And surrounding him on the platform were the dragons. Or at least two of them he recognized. The wyrm and the hydra for instance. Then there was that strange one from earlier, the rusty orange one, and the human in the lab coat. Why was there another scientist here?

He saw something move, and his eyes tracked the movement of the human as he fidgeted with his lab coat, or at least the strange bracelet he was wearing. Wait, it looked extremely familiar. Darnold filed that thought away for thinking about later.

Darnold sat up as best he could without the use of his wings. He should really start thinking about what kind of dragon he was. An ampithere perhaps? Yes, most likely. It’s whole thing is having two wings and only having wings.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the wyrm stepping forward. “We want you to answer some questions for us Darnold. And let’s just say, we are all very eager to cause you some manner of pain, so you better start talking.”

Darnold nodded. He could have expected this. He should have expected this. Why did he do this again? He couldn’t remember anymore. Why couldn’t he remember?

He was broken out of the beginning of this anxious spiral by the wyrm speaking again. “What was the goal of this project?”

“They were, well, trying to make weapons for the military, as I’ve stated before. Uh, you all were supposed to be trained as weapons, but you all turned out to be so unruly, so Black Mesa resorted to making their own dragons. Most of the projects didn’t turn out so well, and then they had bright idea of me using my skills from mixology to make something by using existing DNA, and moved an employee who wouldn’t be missed to here. For that express purpose.”

He was cut off by that unfamiliar dragon, who growled as he stepped forward. “Missed? I have a son, you know!” Oh dear. That was Gordon. Guess it worked after all. I mean, that was kinda obvious, with his newly achieved title of ampithere.

Actually, Darnold didn’t know what to say to those questions. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that Black Mesa would do something like that to someone with a family. But it didn’t matter now, did it? They would probably kill him either way. It didn’t matter now.

Geez, he was horrible at expressing his feelings. He wasn’t paying attention to the dragons arguing over something, but he shivered distinctly at the feeling of a cold breeze. Based on prior knowledge and experience, he could guess that this was the dragon. How had that one even escaped? Darnold would probably never know.

Darnold exhaled sharply and glanced around, seeing that shimmering mist floating around. It floated a little bit, before reforming into a humanoid shape, wearing a security guard uniform as well.

“uh, tommy. tommy.” The dragon frantically tapped the scientist’s arm, even though their voice didn’t scream urgency. He guessed this was Tommy.

Tommy looked at the dragon, placing his other hand on the dragon’s to show that he was listening. The dragon cleared their throat and whispered, even though it was still very loud. “um, disturbance upstairs. but functioning elevator. route all clear for epic speedrun strats.”

Tommy nodded, looking back at Darnold. “Sh-should we bring him with?”

The wyrm nodded, and Darnold sighed. At least they would take him with. Hopefully they wouldn’t be going up against any of the weapons that were made, otherwise things would go really badly.

And lo and behold, there in the center of the first hallway past the trashed break room was a headcrab, a loving nickname given to the insectoid creatures with those lovely venomous stingers.

Well, this was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t like writing this one as much, but don’t worry, next chapter the science team gets to go do some canon-typical violence.
> 
> Anyways, in case you missed it, I wrote an alternate perspective for chapter three, as I said I was going to do:  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/27000088
> 
> And look, a tumblr blog. Go talk to me on there if you feel like:  
> https://sushispider1212.tumblr.com/
> 
> As always, feel free to yell at me in the comments if I didn’t anything wrong, as I literally do not edit this much after writing extremely late at night.


End file.
